Brad Guzan's Aston Villa host Cardiff City in a pivotal match, while Tim Howard's Everton look to climb the standings with a win over Crystal Palace.

Aston Villa - Cardiff City

Brad Guzan and Aston Villa look to break their bad spell with a win at home against Cardiff City.

Guzan is a regular starter for Villa and is expected to feature on Saturday.

The Villains go into the game struggling. They have not won since their victory over Manchester City at the end of September and have not even scored since that win.

Villa is currently in 14th place with 11 points.

In that stretch they missed Christian Benteke, their best offensive threat, however the Belgian is healthy now and hopes to help put Villa back to winning ways.

The rest of the team however is struggling with injuries. Andreas Weimann and Gabriel Agbonlahor are questionable to feature, while Antonio Luna, Joe Bennett, and Fabian Delph are not likely to see the field.

Cardiff is coming off a huge win over Swansea City in the South-Wales derby. That win snapped their three game winless skid and now they hope to climb the table with another win this weekend.

Crystal Palace - Everton

Tim Howard and Everton take the road to play struggling Crystal Palace.

The American ‘keeper is expected to start for the Toffees.

Everton is coming off a scoreless draw at Goodison Park last week against Tottenham. They are currently in 7th place but only trail 2nd place Chelsea by a point in a congested Premier League standings.

Crystal Palace is on a 7 game losing streak and is at the bottom of the league standings with just 3 points. They are six points deep in the drop zone and need to start gathering points soon.

Arouna Kone and Darron Gibson will miss for the Toffees because of injuries.

Sunderland - Manchester City

Jozy Altidore and Sunderland welcome Premier league powerhouse Manchester City to the Stadium of Light.

Altidore is a regular starter for Sunderland and likely to see the field on Sunday.

The Black Cats are currently in 19th place and have only registered one win in league play this season. However, they won their League Cup clash against Southampton this week and look to gain momentum from that match.

City are in 5th place and trail 2nd place Chelsea by just a point because of a congested table. They have won 3 out of their last 4 league games and are coming off a big Champions League victory over CSKA Moscow in the midweek.

Lee Cattermole and Andrea Dossena will miss for the Black Cats because of suspension.

Whitbread hopes to see the field while Lichaj is likely to start for Forest.

The Foxes go into Saturday's match having won four straight games in all competitions and trail 1st place Burnley by just a point. They look to continue their strong run this weekend.

Forest have gone three games winless in league play but still find themselves in 6th place and a playoff position. The team however will need to change their play if they want to keep their promotion threat alive.

Danny Collins and Kelvin Wilson will miss for Forest because of injury, while Djamal Abdoun will miss because of suspension.

Leicester will miss Ritchie de Laet because of a shin injury.

Bolton Wanderers - Millwall

Tim Ream and Bolton welcome Millwall to the Reebok Stadium.

Ream has found a regular spot in Bolton's back four and is likely to see the field this weekend. Stuart Holden is still recovering from injury and will not feature.

Bolton has not lost a game since September, however they have only won two games in that span as most of their matches have ended in draws. Nevertheless, the team has picked up their play after a slow start and they hope to continue with 3 points on Saturday.

Millwall is a point ahead of 19th place Bolton and will want to separate themselves from them this weekend. They have drawn their last three games and have not won a match since the end of September.

Notes

Brad Friedel could see the field in Tottenham's Hugo Lloris does not make the starting eleven because of a head injury. Spurs tae on Newcastle United at home.